MUMBAI: On the afternoon of March 19, 1987, Arvind Inamdar received an urgent phone call at his office at the Police Headquarters in Mumbai. Inamdar would retire in 2000 as director-general of police for Maharashtra, but he was in the crime division then and this call was about something odd happening in Opera House where the city's most exclusive jewellery stores were located. Inamdar was told that a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)...

NEW DELHI: Delhi police is seeking prosecution sanction from competent authority on a priority basis against AAP leader Somnath Bharti in the case of alleged molestation of African women during his midnight-raid last year, police said today in a report filed in a court here. Delhi police, in its report filed before Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Ankita Lal, said it has written to the competent authority as per the direction of the court to grant...

AKOLA: Income Tax officials conducted a raid at the soyabean plant owned by Ambujas here and seized documents pertaining to evasion of taxes by the company, I-T department sources said today. In the raid carried out by Nagpur I-T officials near village Kanheri Gawli over a period of two days starting September 1, cell phones of a few employees were seized and the factory gate was locked, they said. However, they refused to divulge any further details.

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Jaswant Singh today had to step in to squat speculation about I-T raid on the kin of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati Mr Singh told the Lok Sabha that there had been no raid on the relatives of Ms Mayawati after her MPs got into a fight with their rivals from the Samajwadi Party. The confrontation started when SP members, citing a newspaper report, accused the Centre of trying to suppress facts about the purported raid. SP's insistence on the so-called raid was...

NEW DELHI: Crude oil prices jumped more than 4% on Thursday after Saudi Arabia and its allies launched air strikes in Yemen, rattling markets across the globe and heightening concerns in major importer India, which has been able to control inflation and the current account deficit due to the recent fall in oil prices. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude exporter, led a coalition of Sunni allies in a military operation against Shiite rebels in Yemen who have ousted its ...

MUMBAI: Stepping up its crackdown against illicit fund-raising activities in a big way, Sebi has busted more than 150 cases of frauds against gullible investors involving close to Rs 13,000 crore in the current fiscal. These include over 100 cases of deemed public issues, involving an amount of over Rs 2,200 crore and more than 45 cases of illicit Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) worth over Rs 9,500 crore in the fiscal year ending this month. This marks a...

NEW DELHI: Police have raided a house near India's financial capital Mumbai as part of a probe into a series of bomb attacks in the western city of Ahmedabad that killed 45 people, reports said on Sunday. The police seized a computer they say was the source of an email claiming responsibility for Saturday's attacks on behalf of a little-known Islamist group calling itself the "Indian Mujahedeen," the reports said. A similar email was sent to news channels by the same group...

The controversial RJD MP from Siwan Mohammad Shahabuddin's problems only seem to be compounding with the Siwan district administration conducting a surprise raid last night and seizing two mobile phones and a SIM card from his possession. The MP is currently lodged in the Siwan jail and according to sources, he was caught totally unawares when the raid was conducted in his cell. The raid also led to recovery of two other mobile phones and four chargers from his...

KOLKATA: Service tax officials probing the alleged financial irregularities during the IPL-3 today conducted a surprise raid at the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) office. The officials questioned the CAB accountant about the financial details and it is learnt that CAB finance committee chairman Chitrak Mitra has been asked to be present before them on Monday. "Five officers from the service tax department of the state government conducted a search...

MUMBAI: The Income-Tax department on Thursday raided a number of offices as well as residential premises of Anand Jain, chairman of Jai Corp, and a close associate of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani. The I-T department confirmed the raid, but refused to divulge further details. A source in the department, on condition of anonymity, said the tax sleuths were investigating some real estate deals carried out by the company, especially land transactions. When contacted, Mr...

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: Israeli commandos have stormed an apartment complex in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, trying to capture or kill leaders of a local Hezbollah unit they believe had been firing long-range rockets into Israel. At least five people have been killed, including a Lebanese soldier, and the Israeli military says eight of its troops are wounded. VOA Correspondent Challiss McDonough is in Tyre, and has this report. The Israeli commandos landed at around...

SRINAGAR: The army gunned down two militants after they tried to sneak into its main infantry headquarters in the Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir. Senior police officer Danish Rana said the army foiled the rebels' pre-dawn bid on Saturday and later killed them in a gunbattle in the Samba region. There was no independent confirmation of the fighting. "Militants early this morning attacked the Mesar camp of 82 armoured regiment in Samba district. They were using...

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has lodged an FIR in the ISRO Antrix-Devas spectrum deal signed in 2005 during the tenure of the UPA government. CBI has alleged there were irregularities worth .'578 crore in the deal and its was suppressed from the Union Cabinet. The Department of Space comes directly under the Prime Minister's Office. CBI on Wednesday conducted multiple raids in Bengaluru in connection with the case. The case has...

French police raided the Paris offices of Uber taxi app company on Tuesday as part of an investigation into its controversial ride-sharing service, the company told AFP. The headquarters of the French branch of the US-based firm was targeted at the request of the Paris prosecutor's office. The enquiry centres on the uber-POP smartphone application, which puts non-professional drivers with their own cars in touch with passengers via their...

BEIRUT: The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group launched air strikes against the jihadists in a key Syrian village overnight after Kurdish forces appealed for action, a monitor said Saturday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes near the northeastern village of Tal Tamr were the first by the US-led coalition in the area since an IS advance there began in late February. There were no immediate details on casualties...

KARACHI: Pakistan's largest city was tense today after a pre-dawn raid by security personnel on the headquarters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) here, an official said. The headquarters located in Azizabad neighbourhood was also the residence of MQM chief Altaf Hussain who fled Karachi in early 1990s and now lives in London as a British citizen. Colonel Tahir of Rangers told media that the operation was launched at about 5.00 am...

WASHINGTON: It wasn't the best Valentine's Day for Ranbaxy. US authorities conducted a raid on the New Jersey premises of the Indian pharmaceutical company for unspecified reasons. Ranbaxy officials confirmed the raid but said the company was not aware of any wrongdoing, adding the raids had come as a surprise. The raiding authorities are believed to be from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While Ranbaxy officials said they are cooperating fully with the...

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force was placed on alert on the southern coast of the country Saturday following a deadly Tamil Tiger air raid on the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, a report said. A news agency quoted air force sources as saying coastal radar and air defence units were keeping a "round-the-clock vigil" for aerial threats, given the area's proximity to Sri Lanka. A narrow strip of water separates the Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka, and India...

MANILA: Philippine troops have killed 56 Islamic militants including one described as "foreign-looking" who may be among terror suspects sought by the United States, the military said today. The military launched the operation against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) last month in a marshy, farming region on Mindanao island, where Muslim rebels have for decades fought for independence. "One of the cadavers is a foreign-looking guy," said military spokesman...

CAIRO: Seventy militants in Egypt were killed in army raids during the last week, the military said today. Apart from the 70 killed, 118 wanted and suspected militants were arrested from March 1-7, while 27 militant bases were destroyed, army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said. He added that 108 vehicles and motorcycles used by militants in their attacks against police and army personnel were also destroyed. Egypt's Sinai region has witnessed many violent...